On my way back from a meeting, we stopped at the Tajik embassy to get my visa. I sat in the car while the long suffering driver went in to pick up my visa. It was hot enough in the parked car to make me sweat as I sat still, and I opened a door to catch what breeze I could, which was mostly none at all.

So I leaned back against the seat, and shut my eyes to doze away the time. I breathed the slow deep breaths that put me to sleep, and felt the sweat trickle down the small of my back. I listened to the Russian pop on the radio. I am good at this, at sleeping in the heat.

I realized, then, that I have to be good at it. I found myself thinking the many times I have done the same thing – of just how many years of practice I have in sleeping away a slow moment in a hot climate. Long-haul taxis in Syria and Israel, minibuses in Jordan, Egyptian trains and Uzbek propeller planes. Not to mention all the bus stations, airports, banks, doctors, and embassies.

Always the same pose – sprawled back, arms not touching the body, head tilted slightly to the side. Eyes shut, legs close enough together to seem ladylike but not close enough to make contract and exacerbate the heat. Someone’s radio playing foreign language bubblegum pop a bit too loud or not loud enough. It’s intensely familiar.

I think, maybe, it’s my life.

<<|>>

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USAID is one of many donors for the project I work for. The views expressed herein are the author’s own views and do not necessarily reflect those of the author’s employer or especially those of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. And I mean it. I probably give the US government heart attacks.